Chapter 15 #2
Feeling the cool air hit my skin, while the feeling of her hand in mine kept me warm was an indescribable feeling.
The parade was cute, and the complete opposite of anything in New York City at this time of year since it wasn’t at all showy.
It didn’t take long for me to figure out that this was actually what I preferred.
Look at that. Something else for the “pros” column.
***
The next few days leading up to Christmas were sheer craziness.
Jax was working at the cafe, so I had to find a way to entertain our guests while also getting my own work done.
My boss had been nice enough to loosen the reins a bit, and after our in-person meeting at the beginning of December, she said she didn’t need to see me back until February.
The last thing I wanted to do was make her regret that decision.
I was so happy once it was Christmas Eve, not only because the rest of our guests had arrived and Jax was off of work, but also because I didn’t have the pressure to get any work done.
Throughout the morning and afternoon, most of our family was relaxing, but Jax, Quinton, and I helped my moms prepare a big Christmas Eve dinner. Thank god for my moms and Quinton, because my biggest contribution was to make sure Jax didn’t burn any of the food (or herself).
“You didn’t happen to grab a package that came for me, did you?” Jax whispered as we set the table.
“No. What is it?”
“Nothing.” She shrugged. “Just something.”
I groaned. “Did you get me a Christmas present? We promised each other no presents.” And I had kept that promise, which meant I was going to feel really bad if Jax hadn’t.
“No.” The way her voice went up in pitch wasn’t helping to convince me. “It’s more something for both of us.”
I had no idea what that meant, but I hoped it really was something we could both use. I looked around to make sure no one was watching us then squeezed her ass. “Well, I didn’t see any packages, sorry.”
I yelled for the rest of the family to join us, and they all came to the kitchen from different areas of the house.
My grandma was the last to push herself into the kitchen.
There was something sitting beside her in her wheelchair, which I squinted to try to see, but it was slightly covered by her leg, so I couldn’t tell what it was. Oh well.
When Olivia sat down and reached for the basket of bread, my grandma slapped her hand. “What do you think you’re doing, young lady? You cannot eat before thanking Our Lord.”
“It’s bread. I was trying to do communion,” Olivia joked.
My grandma scoffed, clearly not impressed with Olivia’s joke. “Just bow your head and let me say the prayer.”
As my grandma said grace, Jax squeezed my leg under the table, and I had to hold back a giggle. After what felt like much longer than necessary, we were finally allowed to eat.
Everyone was uncharacteristically quiet during the meal, which made Olivia’s shriek even more shocking. “Grandma, what the fuck are you doing?”
“Olivia!” my mama said in a scolding tone.
Instead of showing the least bit of embarrassment, Olivia pointed at my grandma. “Is anyone else seeing what I’m seeing?”
I looked at my grandma and noticed her moving something across her back. When she brought it to her shoulder, I understood Olivia’s reaction, because in my grandma’s hand was a vibrator. Why did she have that? I had no idea where she had gotten it since it definitely wasn’t mine. Thank god.
My grandma gave Olivia an annoyed look. “Can’t an old woman massage her back in peace?”
My mama loudly pushed her chair away from the table as she stood up. Her face was more red than the cherries in the cherry pie Jax’s mom had brought. “Mom, you need to give that to me.”
I looked around the table to see how everyone else was reacting to this, and luckily, it seemed like most of our guests were finding my grandma’s antics humorous. Even Jax’s parents shared a smile. I just wanted to know where the hell she got that.
“Why? It was a gift. I thought maybe you sent it to me. It came in the mail a few days ago.”
It came in the… oh. No. No no no. I looked over at Jax, and she was already staring at me, her face confirming my worst fears. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
My mama shook her head. “Mom, I think you’re confused.” She reached her hand out. “Give it to me.”
“Why? It’s perfect.” She hugged the vibrator against her chest, before holding it out as if putting it on display. “It even has this nice curve to make sure it fits in my hand properly.”
She held tightly to the end that I’m pretty sure was meant to go inside of a person. I looked down at the table. Could this get any worse?
“I really don’t think that’s yours, Mom.”
“It is.” She pushed away from the table. “I can prove it. I still have the box in my room.”
Jax jumped up from the table, causing all eyes to turn to her, half in amusement and half in horror. “You don’t have to get the box. We believe you. It’s yours. All good.” She pulled at the neck of her shirt and laughed awkwardly.
It’s getting worse…
“Nonsense. I’m going to grab it.” Much too soon, my grandma wheeled herself back into the kitchen.
She stared down at the box. “See. It says…” She pulled her reading glasses off of her head and put them on.
“Ah, it seems I read it wrong. I saw the M and I and thought it said Miller. Turns out it was Michaels. Jax, this is yours.” When she moved the box to try to hand it to Jax, a piece of paper fell out.
Jax tried to grab it, but somehow my grandma got to it first.
“What is this?” As she moved her glasses down her nose, Jax sunk back into her chair and pulled her hood over her head. “Oh. A note. Dear Carter, Santa isn’t the only one coming this year. I love you! Jax.”
Water flew across the table from Olivia’s mouth.
I was glad someone was finding this funny, because personally, I wanted the floor to swallow me whole.
This was even worse than the bed bug hickey incident.
I’m never going to be able to look at my moms again, and Jax’s parents are never going to want to see me.
I stood up from the table in a daze. “I’ll… um… I’ll be back.”
I had just reached the door to our bedroom when a hand landed on my arm. I turned to see Jax standing behind me with the box (and I assume the vibrator) under her arm.
“Carter, I’m so sorry.”
I couldn’t look at Jax right now. I stared at the ground, my body shook, and when I couldn’t hold it back anymore, the laughter spilled out of me.
I had no idea why I was laughing at this situation, but I couldn’t stop myself.
I heard a snicker beside me, which made me laugh even harder.
Soon, Jax and I could barely stand up because we were laughing so hard.
“Did that actually just happen?” I said between laughter. “Please tell me that didn’t happen.”
Jax snorted. “I wish I could tell you that. I really do.”
My laughter was interrupted when I felt something rub up against my leg. I looked down to see Speck circling between me and Jax. He walked past us into the room and jumped up onto the bed, then stared at us as if he was waiting for us to join him.
I walked into the room, sat next to him on the bed, and pet his head. “You’re lucky you’re a dog. You can’t get yourself into super awkward situations.”
Jax sat down on the other side of Speck and scratched behind his ear. “Right? How does this keep happening?”
“It’s not you two. Trust me.”
I looked out into the hallway to see my mama standing there. “My mother has been creating increasingly more awkward moments since I was in high school.”
“Were any of them that awkward?” Jax asked with a chuckle.
My mama leaned against the open doorway. “There was the time my mom gave away that Reagan was going to propose to me, because she thought the ring was for her.”
Jax furrowed her eyebrows. “For her?”
My mama nodded. “She thought my dad was re-proposing to ask her to renew their vows. She ended up making a scene in front of the whole family.”
“That’s pretty bad, but it’s not…” Jax waved her hands. “You know.”
My mama laughed. “Oh we had something like that happen to us too. It was also on Christmas and also in front of both of our families.” My mama walked into the room and put a hand on each of our shoulders.
“What I’m saying is, even though we all might have heard some things today that make us want to clean out our ears, it happens to the best of us.
This will all blow over. Let’s just enjoy Christmas. How does that sound?”
Jax gave my mama a thumbs up. “Sounds great.”
I smiled at my mama. As far as parents went, I really was one lucky girl. “Thanks, Mama. We’ll be right down. I think we just need a minute to recover.”
“Of course.” She pointed a finger at the two of us and gave us a stern look that was clearly fake. “No funny business though.” There was a smirk on her face as she turned around and walked out of the door.
Speck jumped off of the bed and followed closely behind her.
Jax sighed when they were both out of sight. “I’m glad your moms are cool. Now, we just have to hope my parents are too.”
I put an arm around her shoulder. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.”
“Move to another country and never face them again?” Jax joked.
“I was going to say we should go downstairs, but your idea doesn’t sound too terrible.”
Jax put her hand out for me to take. “I can face anything as long as I have you by my side, even a room full of people that know I wanted to make you come for Christmas.”
I squeezed her hand. “Let’s do it.”